Roll for initiative, it's time for Contextual Deviants! This ep, we're covering 2023's action-adventure hit Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, with special returning guest Kady Jaspersen! Highlights include: Jarnathan, Horns Up Horde, the Red Scare, enemies-to-lovers, a wet goof, and much more! You can check out Kady's contribution to the G…

It's not metaphorical, rhetorical, poetical, or theoretical. It's Contextual Deviants. Straight up. This ep, we're joined by special guest Kady Jaspersen to talk about 2022's Academy Award-nominated animated film, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. It starts with a howl, and ends with us howling! For real, though, this is one of our silliest episodes, a…

Everything Everywhere All At Once broke new ground at the Oscars, but it wasn't the first sci-fi martial arts multiverse movie to hit American cinemas. To prove it, we watched 2001's edgy Jet Li action flick The One! A movie that everyone definitely remembers with all the fondness and reverence it deserves. Highlights include: Not THAT Don't, Satan…

Your podcast hunt is over! Join us as we catch Prey, the groundbreaking 2022 prequel to Predator starring Amber Midthunder. Also, to be clear, the dog's name is Sarii. We're Sarii not Sarii to tell you that. Highlights include: Predator's Got Mail, quicksand's back, remembering the creature, Sophie's Choice Deal or No Deal, the prophecy of Dick Che…

Ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum-dum-DUM-DUM, it's Contextual Deviants! We watched the Indian action epic that's burning down the internet, RRR, and just had to do an episode about it. It's wild. Spoilers: It's wild. Highlights include: Sheamommydom, the best thing since sliced butt, wet wet flags, a brand new context, RRRby's, Lil' Bheem, and much more!…

DRAW! In honor of director Sam Raimi's latest film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we're taking a trip back to 1995 and covering his previous work, and our first western(!), The Quick and The Dead. Come for a stellar cast featuring Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, and a young Leonardo DiCaprio, stay for the old man in the ba…

Fire up your seaplanes! Contextual Deviants is talking about an anime for the first time, and we've chosen the strange Studio Ghibli classic Porco Rosso! A movie that preaches the always-relevant point: It's better to be a pig than a fascist. Highlights Include: Lie Daddy, John McPlane, he flies a red plane, Sit and Spin, reinventing the squeal, Da…

The Batman is back! And so are we! To celebrate the latest dark and intense and dark and dark new Bat-flick, we wanted to take a look back at the much lighter 2017 entry in the Bat-legacy, The Lego Batman Movie! Highlights Include: Our origin story, too many Os, "Nobody wants to work anymore (as Catwoman)," penguin kisser, female tennis stars, Noti…

Hey, snow holidays are better than no holidays. We're talking about everyone's favorite Christmas classic, Jack Frost, aka the movie where Michael Keaton turns into a talking snowman! Holly-jolly highlights include: Bahn's sleepytime routine, snow-blank is better than no-blank, the driver's license bit, Martin Of-Coursese, Immortan Jack Frost, Nick…

Ride your dragons and call your Klev, it's Contextual Deviants time! This ep, we're tackling Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was recently added to Disney+. We apologize in advance for our sloppy American pronunciation! Highlights include: Klump It Up Awkwafina-Style, the QR code for a Reign of Fire ARG, a little dolphin yo…

Lock your door and grab your crucifix, Contextual Deviants is summoning Freddy for this year's Halloween Spooptacular! 1987's Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors packs a lot of weird into 96 minutes, and we're happy to slice it up and examine its bloody insides like no one has before. Highlights include: Zodiac Gary, Freddy's got claws, Night…

Enjoy a quirky coming-of-age road-trip comedy about two teen best friends, and then donate to pro-choice causes fighting to overturn anti-abortion legislation across the US! Yes, we are making a political statement in an episode description for our silly movie podcast. We will probably do so again. Highlights include: Chekov's Squatty Potty, reprod…

Hola, fantastic folks! We're talking about Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 dark fairy tale classic Pan's Labyrinth in ways we guarantee no one's ever talked about it before. Highlights include: A good intro idea, Interrobang and The Schwa, it's in the text, the Dark Knight connection, David Hasselhoff, Aray's, why not Ferngully?, and much more!…

Yeah baby. Yeah. We're doing it. It's Austin Powers! David had never seen it before! We had to. We just had to. Highlights include: Crap and suck etc, Shallow Teeth, Lil Bryan Cranston, steamrolling the working class, Do Die Make You Horny, The Rise of Shagwalker, and more!Von Contextual Deviants

After a year of separation, the Contextual Deviants crew is back in the studio! We reunited, fully vaxxed, to talk about the 2012 absurdist comedy Wanderlust, starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston and a banger supporting cast. And wow, what a difference being in the same room makes! Highlights include: Stan Lee sans mustache, Knife to Meet You, J…

We complete our quartet of 2021 releases with the Netflix Original animated film, The Mitchells vs. The Machines! From the studio that brought you Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes a harrowing tale of robot uprisings, family drama, and dogs/pigs/loaves of bread. We promise our podcast won't turn evil! Highlights include: Fuck, Mayor, Kill, Da…

Yee-haw, it's time for some space cowboys! Following the tradition of stories like Cowboy Bebop, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Firefly, we watched 2021's Netflix Original film Space Sweepers! Join us as we take on space capitalism with space goofs and some fun space contexts. Highlights include: A stealth sequel to Fried Green Tomatoes, big jumpsuit…

ANCIENT ENEMIES! Take a little jaunt down to the Hollow Earth with your good buddies Contextual Deviants, as we examine 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong! Highlights include: Rev rev, un-kong-scious, Denzella vs. Kong, the five or six different types of animals, a dangerous Angelfire page, dubstep pollution, and much more!…

It's okay to hope with Contextual Deviants! We're talking about our first new movie of 2021, the Disney+ original super-squirrel family film, Flora and Ulysses. So dump your cynicism, drop your Jack and Rose Award, and lift an Animal Control van if you have to so you can join us! Highlights include: Matt's out of the box, WUBB, speaking of, human r…

In honor of the latest in a long line of "sequels to comedies that are over 20 years old," Coming 2 America, we are coming back to where it all started with Coming TO America! As much as people have talked about this movie, we guarantee you'll hear something new about it on our podcast. Highlights Include: Open-armed rejection, Foibs Top 100, Deer …

Grab some scroggin and get ready to live that skux life as Contextual Deviants covers Taika Waititi's majestical buddy comedy Hunt For the Wilderpeople! Highlights include: Is that Satan?, Hidalgo 2: 2 Hidalgos, the Mother of Ticks, punish the pig, BigHotSac.com, Skexy and I know it, and much more!Von Contextual Deviants

We made it to 2021! Let's see, how's the world doing? ...Oh....Hey, who wants to listen to a podcast about a fun-violent lady clown movie? That sounds like a good distraction right now. It's 2020's Birds of Prey, or The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn! Highlights include: De-introducing Jay-Z, you get it, Glaring Error-nofsky, allergic…

Merry Cringemas, everybody! This holiday season, we watched the movie that finally dared to ask the question: What if Kristen Stewart was more relatable than Mary Steenburgen? It's the 2020 Hulu original romcom Happiest Season! Gather your cheer and join us right here on Contextual Deviants. Highlights include: Very TBS, Mary Steenburgen: Emotional…

Journey with us to the time before. You know. BEFORE! Contained within this compilation are some of the best clips from ten of our best episodes (top 50, for sure), from Taxi Driver to Midsommar (and several movies which are not haunting stories of mental illness and gruesome murder)! It's been hard transitioning to the new setup for the show, and …

We all miss the spooky fun Halloween party atmosphere this year, so why not bring all the fun of talking about watching someone else have a house party into your own home this holiday season? Contextual Deviants dives into the 1990 cult comedy classic House Party! Highlights include: Half a loin of Elon, the My Wife and Kids rewatch podcast everyon…

Grab your axes and watch out for Dudley, it's 2020's The Old Guard on this episode of Contextual Deviants! There is some real goofy biz in this one, so we hope you can just sit back and enjoy it. After all, unless you're an immortal warrior, you only live once! Highlights include: Moose tongue, Boromir Kavanaugh, the first time someone has pulled o…

Let's grift some rich people! We're talking about the first non-English film to win Best Picture, Parasite! Bong Joon-Ho's metaphorical masterpiece about class, family, rocks, and basements has been analyzed a million times. But we guarantee no one has ever talked about it like us! Highlights Include: A calming meditation on Parasite winning Best P…

To support the Twin Cities Mutual Aid Project, visit TCMAP.org --- WE'RE BACK! It's been four months since our last episode, and all that's happened in the meantime is that our city's police committed a murder, the president's a fascist, and the world is on fire. Perfect time to talk about 2006's Inside Man! A movie that's really not about any of t…

As the late great Orson Welles once said, "Ahaaaah, the French!" This episode is all about the 2019 French romantic period drama Portrait of a Lady On Fire, a movie that has everything: Proper social distancing, forbidden romance, an art class, armpit drugs, and an old-fashioned abortion. We love it! (For real, we love this movie) Highlights includ…

The title of this film is definitely not something people should be doing right now. But, in lieu of that, you can enjoy us talking about it! And, uh, simulating it...just a little...we're so sorry. Highlights include: The most uncomfortable we've ever felt while recording an intro, Lovenomics, a sexual stingray, gettin' that red nose rubbed, Jason…

We're back, and we're bustin' outta quarantine! Well, not really. We're still social distancing. In fact, this is the first episode we recorded remotely! As such, there are some technical hiccups, the most obvious being that the episode basically got cut in half. But what's left is half of a solid episode of Contextual Deviants, all about 2020's mo…

This podcast is not family-friendly, but we're adult-friend-family friendly, especially on this episode about Fast Five! Join hosts Christian Hagen, David Gutsche, and Matthew Bahn on a furious ride through the mean streets of the internet, and hear us talk about this movie like no one has ever talked about it before! Highlights Include: Rio Heist,…

What's up, Danger? Oh, sorry, I thought you were my friend Danger. My mistake. But do you want to listen to this episode of Contextual Deviants about the Academy Award-winning animated superhero film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Because it's pretty great, IMO. Highlights Include: Helpless candy monster, Spider-Church, future villain Octavia S…

CONTENT WARNING - This film, and by extension this episode, contains themes which may be distressing to some viewers, including suicide, emotional abuse, and murder. For those who want to listen to the episode without watching the film, we provide a brief synopsis early on so you can follow along. We stan a legend in her time named Florence Pugh, a…

It's honestly baffling that we're coming up on our 50th episode. Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday we were talking about the first miniseries we ever covered (Russian Doll), or the first movie we ever talked about that was still in theaters (Booksmart), or when we figured out that Eighth Grade and Mary Poppins Returns are basicall…

2019 was a big year for movies, and a big year for Contextual Deviants, so we wanted to ring in 2020 with a look back at some of the only good things to come out of 2019: The films! Join us on a randomized adventure full of superlatives, gushing about movies we loved, complimenting movies we didn't, and finding every possible opportunity to shout o…

Happy Holidays, everybody! To ring in this festive time of year, Contextual Deviants is talking about the 1946 Frank Capra classic, It's A Wonderful Life. We had some spiked hot cocoa for this one, so forgive us our stumbles. It's a party! Highlights Include: The sweatiest crack, the first cult classic, the worst possible mix-up of two directors, W…

Reach for the sky! It's a brand new episode of Contextual Deviants...and it's...robbing you? I didn't think about this. Yes, this week we're covering the 1995 classic that launched 3D animation and Pixar Studios into the forefront of the industry, Toy Story. Highlights Include: Randy needs someone to watch his sheep tonight, two tuck-sedos, Buddy D…

Get your kicks on a chicky run with Contextual Deviants! After all, you've gotta do something, right? This week, we're digging back to an old-school James Dean teen drama, 1955's Rebel Without A Cause. It's...weirder than we expected. Highlights Include: Einstein's BDE equation, Frumpster Wars, Suit and 'Pron, K-D ratios, what the monkey christmas?…

Take a journey into the Unknown as Contextual Deviants looks at the animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall! The perfect autumnal treat for the whole family (the show, not this episode, which, you know, does have an Explicit tag). Highlights include: Hercule Poirot, That Darn Game, master barrister, Team Greg, cosplay law, The Wirt Angle, FABA, bu…

Deja vu? Weird, because this is DEFINITELY a brand-new episode of Contextual Deviants. Specifically, it's our second spooky Halloween episode, this time looking at 2017's time loop horror comedy Happy Death Day! Highlights include: Complaint edging, Denzel Car-Washington, archetypes, whispering eyes, Time Prison, Lake Ron Hubbardcraft, Farmer Maggo…

This is one doodle that can't be undid, homeskillet. We did an episode on 2007's Academy Award-nominated teen pregnancy comedy Juno! So shake your hamburger phones if you're getting bad reception, because you won't want to miss this one. Highlights Include: I, Liberty Bell, a doctor from 1800s, crumpled up Jiffy Lube reveals, 2no, Big Fingernails, …

We know. We're sorry. Highlights Include: David's sick hops, diametrically opposed tones, the evolution of serialized film sequels, Dying Next To Friends On Rooftops, a lightning round, and much more! Again, we're so sorry. We promise the episode is better than the movie it's about.Von Contextual Deviants

Rise above your station and race some ducks with your distant cousins from Contextual Deviants! This episode, we dive deep into 2018's Academy Award Nominated royal dark comedy The Favourite. Who will be betrayed? Who will fall ill with gout? Will the mud baths get on the microphones? Find out now! Highlights include: The Harry Potter Celebrity Nam…

We're talking to YOU this week on Contextual Deviants as we take on 1976's Taxi Driver! Join us on a journey through psychological horror, political strife, and Peter Boyle as Wizard. It's one of the most discussed movies in the history of film, and yet we can GUARANTEE that there is at least one context in this episode that literally no one else h…

40 episodes down, 40 more to go! Until we hit 80...which is not actually significant, it's just how math works. But to celebrate our 40th episode, we'd like to take a look back at some of the funniest, weirdest, dumbest, smartest, and most grin-widening moments from episodes 21 through 30! Thank you all so much for listening, it really means the wo…

Trip a little light fantastic with Contextual Deviants' first musical episode! (Well, the movie's a musical. We don't sing.) 2018's charming magical romp Mary Poppins Returns takes center stage this week for your listening pleasure. Highlights include: The Resident The Giver The Film The Thief His Wife Her Lover Soldier Spy, a lot of hate directed …

Rev up your engines, deviants, it's time for another romp around the Context track! Our hosts take on 2017's Southern-fried heist comedy Logan Lucky, starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, and America's Stepdad, Roy from The Office. Highlights include: The Stealth Pledge, hierarchies, David loves crime, tantric writing, t…

This movie deserves a better class of podcast...end of thought. BUT, in lieu of that, Contextual Deviants, along with very special guest Stuart Wiberg, present a fresh take on 2008's blockbuster The Dark Knight, exploring questions about one of the most popular films of all time that we're pretty sure no one has asked before! Highlights Include: Ra…

Apologies for the interruption, but Contextual Deviants is just calling to let you know that this week we’re covering 2018’s subversive surrealist comedy Sorry To Bother You. Hosts Christian Hagen, David Gutsche, and Matthew Bahn explore the myriad oddities of this very strange but highly affecting debut film. Highlights Include: Sound effects, som…